11/16/2012

Here I am at the Silver Summit at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I'm standing next to Susan Ayers Walker, the organizer of the Silvers Summit.

Presto is here with the Doctor Marion folks presenting our jointly-developed "Elder Apps". Now available in the iTunes App store, Elder 411 and Elder 911 put 35 years of Doctor Marion's geriatric care experience in the palm of your hand.

09/15/2009

Today is a banner day. The Presto engineering team has created a new service for our subscribers, the first of it's kind in the world (I think). But first, a story…

Back in October 2007, Japan’s Kanagawa Institute of Technology showed off a robot exoskeleton for the elderly or infirm that could turn them from wheelchair bound into a RoboCop (presumably without the weapons). The idea is to empower humans who may have lost some of their abilities with technology that restores it to them.

Well, our announcement today is hardly on the same scale as RoboGranny, but for a homebound senior living through a Michigan winter, it can autonomously enable continued connection to family all over the world just the same…[drum roll please]…

Today Presto announces it Automatic Supplies Subscription service! [fireworks exploding] The Presto Printing Mailbox is the only consumer printer that reports its ink levels back to a website for an administrator to monitor. We have now automated that monitoring and connected it to a fulfillment chain. For Presto account managers who are tired of keeping track of when their parents are running low on ink or paper, they can sign up for the new free service, and have ink and (optionally) paper, delivered to their parent's home automatically, and only when actually needed!

This may seem relatively simple, but it's the only service of its kind. And, for busy people whose lives are full of their own challenges, having one less hassle in helping take care of their parent’s caregiving needs can be truly refreshing.

So is it RoboPresto? Maybe not. But is our new service something that will protect mom or dad against needing to drive to the office supply store on wintry roads just to fuel their connection to the broader family? You bet!

Presto subscribers can learn more and sign-up by visiting their PrestoConnect homepage and clicking on “Manage Printer Settings” and then selecting Automatic Supplies Subscription service, or by phoning Presto customer support toll-free at 800-919-3199.

09/09/2009

Just in time for Grandparent's Day, Presto is announcing you could win Presto for Life! for your parents, grandparents, or someone close to your family.

Every family has a story and some of the best come from the members of the greatest generation: grandma and grandpa. If you send Presto a video of why your parents or grandparents are so important to you by October 15, you could win them a Presto Printing Mailbox with Presto Service for life, or one of several other prizes.

Our panel of judges (three prominent eldercare experts) will scrutinize the entries for the best stories and announce the lucky winners on November 6 on Presto.com.

08/28/2009

Presto Services Inc. is seeking to collaborate with a university graduate program in a business school, school of psychology, or other school focusing on the caring of elders. Tens of thousands of people use Presto today to help their parents by better connecting them to their extended family, to prevent loneliness and to help them age in place. We have had dozens of testimonials from the adult children of Presto users who tell us that Presto has made a significant positive difference in their parent’s lives. We are seeking to provide access to our subscribers to a research team whose goal is to produce a study of the efficacy of Presto in improving elders’ lives. We wish to kick off this program immediately and have the conclusions of the study and final report by the end of year. More information will be provided upon receipt of an email of interest that contains the following information:

Primary researcher’s name, address, phone number, name of graduate degree program, name of school, name of university, name of overseeing professor.

This project is being initiated by Peter Radsliff, president and CEO of Presto Services Inc. Letters of interest should be addressed to ceo.direct@presto.com.

08/22/2009

An interesting blog post came to my attention the other day. It was from the blog of the company OnTimeRX, the developer of a service that provides telephone-based reminders for people to take their medication. The blog post ( located at: http://bit.ly/kQf4F ) talked about how a person could utilize their system in conjunction with Presto to create a double reminder system, both on phone and on paper, to help with medication compliance. This is an interesting idea considering we have been told by many Presto subscribers that one of the things they use Presto for is to help their parents remember to take their meds.

One person went as far as taking digital photographs of each of his Mom's pill bottles, with the correct number of pills showing next to each of them, and then creating a PDF document that he sent to her at the proper time for her to take the meds each day. This was one of the stories that prompted us at Presto to create the PrestoConnect account manager website and it's scheduled reminder functions. Whether it's a custom made PDF attachment complete with photos of pills, or just a listing using the "To Do List" template built into the system, Presto can send a recurring reminder on an ongoing basis making it really easy for the senior to 1) not only have a reminder of what to take at the appropriate time, but 2) to have a piece of paper that can act as a logbook of what meds were taken when.

To drive home what an important topic this is, here is a snippet from an article by by Albert Werthheimer, Ph.D. that appeared in The Journal of Applied Research: “…at the very least, costs as a result of patient noncompliance are estimated at $100 billion a year and are the result of adverse outcomes such as hospitalization, development of complications, disease progression, premature disability, or death.” (full article: http://bit.ly/4c5roH ). It seems to me that someone in the government should take a look at services such as OnTimeRX and Presto as part of the effort to contain healthcare costs. Short of Presto being part of a government sponsored disease management program, at least current Presto subscribers have a tool that can provide substantive assistance to their parents in ensuring they stay healthy.

08/13/2009

There are two legendary guitars: the Gibson Les Paul, and the Fender Stratocaster. I own them both. They are both incredible instruments, with highly unique tones that make them stand out of the crowd of many other instruments that are wonderful in their own right. And with a high degree of accuracy, I can listen to a recording and tell you which artist is playing a Les Paul, and which is playing a Strat; their tones are that distinct. But the fact that these legendary instruments exist at all — the fact that rock and roll exists as we know it — is due to one man: Les Paul.

Music lost one of its masters today, Les Paul died at the age of 94. He leaves behind a legacy no less profound than being the most important force in modern music for the past 50 years. If you think that is an overstatement, read what the who's who of six strings say about Les: [click here].

Les invented…INVENTED…the electric guitar, and multi-track recording, which has been the basis for every commercial recording since the 1950s. His development of the Les Paul guitar for Gibson, and the effect on legions of guitar heros that followed, is staggering. If you've heard Slash (Guns N' Roses), Duane Allman (Allman Brothers Band), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Ace Frehley (KISS), Pete Townsend (The Who), Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society), Peter Frampton (Frampton), Joe Walsh (Eagles), Neil Schon (Santana, Journey), or any of a hundred more, you’ve heard a Les Paul guitar.

I won't attempt to eulogize this first, true guitar hero. There are many more important guitarists than I to write Les' memorials. But I have been a fan of the instrument since buying my first Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty" in 1974 for $279.00 at Don Weir's Music City in San Francisco. And I still play it today. And I was honored to hear Les Play live at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco back in the late '70s. My band mates and I went to see this living legend, and we weren't disappointed. He invented "shredding" long before Eddie Van Halen or Joe Satriani. Truth be told, all rock guitarists have a huge debt we owe to Les for giving us the encouragement to be wild, to try new things, and not be happy with the status quo.

A special memory for me is that after seeing his show, Les came over to the bar for a drink. Not only did he shake my hand and autograph my ticket, he told the bassist in my band who owned a Les Paul Recording Bass how to set the different electronic controls to get various different tones. To say that a group of young musicians were in awe of this 63 year old musician was a gross understatement.

Well, Les, you are no longer a legend in your own time. Now you belong to the ages. I, for one, am a better guitarist, better musician, and better human being for having listened to your music and followed your life. Vaya con dios, Mr. Paul. And know that…music cried today.

08/10/2009

Tonight I attended an event that I realized provided an excellent crash course in U.S. culture. I would call it "America 101" and it would be high on my list to recommend to foreign visitors wishing to see what the United States is all about. What was this all-American event? Tonight I saw country singer Alan Jackson play at the Ironstone Vineyards Amphitheater in California's gold country.

It's easy for those who don't enjoy country music to write off Alan Jackson or his whole genre as anachronistic. I have found that for the more cosmopolitan or sardonically witted, it is especially easy for them to relegate love of country music to rural hicks or urban country-wannabees. I harbor no negative thoughts having been a country music fan (along with most other genres of music) for many years. But for me, this concert was more than just fancy pickin', twin fiddles and honky tonk bass. It was eye opening to see the crowd laughing, dancing, and crying in places, throughout the evening.

My personal epiphany at the concert was not about the music per se, it was that Jackson's songs told a story about what we Americans want to believe our lives should be. Heaped upon the altar of the American Dream were themes as diverse as the excitement of a pre-teen being taught to drive his dad's boat; the fun of racing cars on a backcountry road and not getting caught; the importance of the love of a good woman; the sadness we all felt about 9-11; and remembering how much simpler life was in days gone by.

Clearly, the stories behind each song pandered to an audience who wanted to hold a romanticized view of American life. But that's where I think the people who dislike country music get it wrong, and where people wanting to learn more about the U.S. could get it right.

It's not a belief that America is all pure, or full of rural simplicity and goodness that is the crux of the songs I heard Alan Jackson play that night. The vision Mr. Jackson and others of his twangy ilk are selling is one of a life that we all secretly aspire to. A life where we are happy, and good to one another, and where we strive for making the most out of the life we have. Rather than being unhappy about constantly missing out on a life we think we should have had which remains elusively out of our grasp.

Call it optimism vs. pessimism, or romanticism vs. realism…what I took away from the Alan Jackson concert was to be thankful for the blessings of life and to make the most of them rather than striving for things that aren't important. To me, America 101 is “ideals first, ideas next” and it would be good for all of us who live here, and the rest of the world who doesn’t, to understand that.

08/05/2009

I recently emailed an "A-list" headhunter I know on behalf of a job-seeking friend of mine who is looking for a referral into a company. I was happy to receive an enthusiastic offer of help from the headhunter for my friend whom she doesn't know, and whose job level her company doesn't represent. In other words, there was nothing in it at all for the headhunter to help out this person. Something the headhunter wrote struck me as being indicative of the times: "We all need to help each other out these days."

Wow. What an incredible sentiment. Not since right after 9-11, or more locally after the Loma Prieta earthquake have I felt this sentiment so strongly. It seems that a day doesn't go by without getting a LinkedIn or Facebook request to reconnect. And invariably, the first statement from people I haven't seen in a while is, "Are you okay?"

Am I okay. Think about that question for a moment. It contains a presumption that there is a significant possibility, even probability, that I am not okay. It also contains a undercurrent that they are probably not okay and are seeking help. And these are not just old school chums exploring social networks. They are business friends and acquaintances, former subordinates, and even former superiors who are "looking for their next challenge" and not finding any luck.

I guess it's a shame that it takes an terrorist attack, a 7.1 earthquake or an economic meltdown to bring out the best in people. But, it is also human nature. When our brethren aren't hurting, we leave them to their own devices. When they are hurting, we try to challenge Darwin and help people avoid needing to be the fittest to survive. As the billboard I found nestled on El Camino Real above attests, the economic bust is precipitating a humanistic boom.

As for whether I am okay? Hmmmmm…let's see. I work with a group of incredibly talented, committed and wonderful people, doing important work that affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of family members daily. I play a major role in defining the future of a company. I have the best financial backers and board members in the business. My home and office are in the San Francisco Bay Area (it doesn't get much better than that). I have a loving wife and three amazing children and still play in a band with my high school buddies.

08/01/2009

PRESTO FOR BUSINESS?!!Many of you know Presto as a computerless email solution for families. Said differently, Presto lets busy moms and dads make their lives easier by having a way to deliver email with photos or documents to their moms and dads who don't use, or who struggle with, computers. But did you know that businesses use Presto, too? Today there are a number of innovative businesspeople who have purchased Presto Printing Mailboxes with accompanying Presto Mail subscriptions because they needed a solution that was better than Fax, but that also didn't require a computer or Internet connection.

You might be asking yourself what business in today's world doesn't have a computer or Internet connection? Lots, it turns out. Especially remote business locations where the business people don't want the operators at the remote locations to be surfing the web all day. Besides preserving productivity, these businesses also save the cost of the computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse and software. They also save on hardware maintenance, virus and spyware maintenance, and continual desktop software upgrades. For those environments where one-way information flow is desired, Presto has provided an elegant solution that does not require ongoing IT Dept. maintenance.

PAPER IS PORTABLEStill, it’s hard to think of where paper-based output is preferable to screen-based output…or is it? We have been told of uses for Presto as diverse as these:

- Retail business locations: When your business lives and dies by the infrastructure to change product pricing, Presto can play an interesting role. We were approached recently by a retail store chain with dozens of locations. They wanted to use Presto to deliver formatted price signs to each store location. Every morning, the Printing Mailboxes retrieve any price sign updates which would then print out automatically for the satellite store location. The local employees then only need to take the printed signs and deploy them around the store, replacing the outdated pricing. And, the Presto delivery confirmations gave headquarters verification that the new prices were printed out at each location.

- Pizza Parlors: For this idea, consumers would go through a registration process on the Pizza Parlor's web site and thereby be added to the specific restaurant location's approved senders list (to prevent spam). They can then either email their order from any computer or smartphone, et voilá, the pizza cook gets a printed order. All without the restaurant owner needing to know anything about technology. Or, with a little bit of web development, it wouldn't be hard to imagine the page bring printed out with the pizza order, delivery directions and coupons for the consumer's next visit. This is just an idea at this point, but one that could be implemented without any difficulty at all by businesspeople who have no technical expertise. Bottom line: small businesses can implement a way for their customers to connect to their directly and conveniently without a large-scale technology development effort, and without resorting to phone or fax in an increasingly online world.

FAX IS DEADThe most interesting aspect of using Presto for Business is that it provides full-color, 600 dpi resolution with auto-handling of digital images and Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) documents coming from any email client, Webmail or smartphone. Almost no one faxes anymore. And low resolution black & white output is just not good enough for many modern applications. For environments where a computer or Internet connection is impractical or too expensive, Presto could just prove to be a Fax-replacement technology that is ready to go.

THE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESSAlthough some of the ideas above are just that, ideas, there are real businesses today that use Presto all across the country: the thousands of retirement homes and assisted living facilities who have residents with Printing Mailboxes in their apartments or rooms. For years the families of seniors in these facilities have enjoyed daily contact from their extended family members no matter how far away they lived. It is these businesses, and the family members that reside there, that are Presto's main audience. We will always be focused on solving problems for people like this. But that's not to say that the Presto platform and technology can't also prove to be a significant solution for the world of business as well.

If you have a business and want to know if Presto can work for you, email me at ceo.direct@presto.com